How Do We Know About God? About Sacred Scripture

Doctrnal Elements of a Currculum Framework for the Development of Catechetcal Materals for Young People of Hgh School Age I. How Do We Know About God? A. The thirst and desire for God Catechism of the Catholic Church [CCC], nos. 27-30, 44-45, 1718. 1. Within all people there is a longing for God. 2. That longing itself is from God, who desires and initiates a relationship with each person. 3. Only in God can lasting joy and peace be found in this life and in the next. B. God revealed in many ways. 1. Natural revelation CCC, nos. 32-34. a. Natural revelation attested to in Sacred Scripture CCC, no. 32. 1 Old Testament references, including Genesis and Wisdom. 2 Paul’s Letter to the romans. b. Patristic testimony CCC, no. 32. c. Scholastic theology’s arguments for the existence of God CCC, nos. 31, 34. 1 St. Thomas Aquinas and the ive proofs for the existence of God. d. Vatican I: we can grasp with certainty the existence of God through human reason CCC, nos. 36-38, 46-47. e. Contemporary arguments based on the human person’s opening to truth, beauty, moral goodness, freedom, voice of conscience CCC, no. 33. 2. Divine revelation. a. Deinitionmeaning CCC, nos. 50-53, 68-69. b. Scripture as a divinely inspired record of God’s revelation in history CCC, nos. 54-64, 70-72. 1 Abraham, Isaac, Jacob CCC, nos. 59, 145, 147. 2 Moses CCC, no. 61. 3 Old Testament prophets CCC, nos. 61-64, 522. 4 Wisdom literature. 5 Preparation through John the Baptist CCC, nos. 523, 717-720. c. Jesus Christ, the irst and the last, the deinitive Word of revelation, the one to whom all Scripture bears witness, is God’s only Son CCC, nos. 65-67, 73, 101-104, 134, 423. 3. The transmission of Divine revelation CCC, nos. 74-95. a. Apostolic Tradition CCC, nos. 74-79, 96. b. The relationship between Tradition and Sacred Scripture CCC, nos. 80-83, 97. c. The Deposit of Faith and the role of the Church CCC, nos. 84-95, 98-100.

II. About Sacred Scripture

A. Divine Inspiration. 1. Inspiration is the gift of the Holy Spirit by which a human author was able to write a biblical book which really has God as the author and which teaches faithfully and without error the saving truth that God willed to be consigned to us for our salvation CCC, nos. 105, 135. 2. Since God inspired the biblical writers, he is the author of Scripture CCC, nos. 105-106, 136. 3. Because the human authors needed to use the language and thinking of their time, we need to study the conditions and use of language in the context of their time and understand what they intended to communicate, remembering that these human authors might not have been conscious of the deeper implications of what God wanted to communicate CCC, nos. 106, 108-114. 4. The Bible is inerrant in matters of revelation and faith: because God is the author of Scripture, all the religious truths that God intends to reveal Core Curriculum

I. The Revelation of Jesus Christ in Scripture